Indian State Offers Cosmetic Breast Surgery to the Poor For Free

Indian State Offers Cosmetic Breast Surgery to the Poor For Free

If you would like to help the poor in your community, usually free cosmetic breast surgery is not the first thing you think of. But for some reason, the officials in the health department of Tamil Nadu, an Indian state thought it would be the right thing to do.

In most societies, governments are aiming to ensure that the poor have the essentials for survival, such as water, food, shelter and medical care. Tamil Nadu however is going against the traditional method of caring for the poor and has become the world’s first state to make cosmetic breast surgery free for the less fortunate. It is currently funded by the state, but officials are aiming to get insurance companies to cover it as well.

Health Minister Vijaya Baskar explains that if it is not offered to them free of charge, that it poses a risk of taking out loans that they cannot afford for it and using other dangerous methods. A state run clinic in Chennai, which is the capital of Tamil Nadu was already giving breast surgery to cancer patients, but they have been getting requests from patients who wants to reduce the size of their breasts due to shoulder and back pain, or increase their self-confidence with implants.

The doctor in charge of plastic surgery at the Chennai clinic believes that this type of surgery offers many psychological benefits and would make many girls feel more comfortable to leave their homes. The Tamil Nadu government is well known for their generosity to the poor, having offered free wedding venues and jewelry to the poor in the past.